I recently purchased a 93 Dakota club cab v8. Well winter is here and I discovered the spider gears are shattered in the front axle. It also cracked the carrier in the process so that needs to be replaced also. I found a complete axle locally and am considering just swapping it out. My question is do I need to completly remove the cv shafts or can i just simply unbolt them from the axle anf move them out of the way to drop the axle out?
Question #2: Does anyone know where I can get the gear kit and a carrier cheap??

Thanks all!!

 

The cheepest may be ebay.com But for a good price and good quality I would say http://www.ringpinion.com/ or http://www.differentials.com/

Yes you can unblolt the cv axles and just let it hang, but they may get in the way. Its easy to remove it from the truck. Just get a 33mm socket and a braker bar and 5mins, and your done. But it can get in the way.

 

um did you mean a 33 MM socket?

 

Do you think i am better off doing the axle swap ($400) or doing the new carrier and spider gear set?

 

Swaping the entire axle may be easyer, and cheeper. But you dont realy know the codition of that case and gears, it may not be properly set up. But it is alot cheeper then buying everything then getting a shop to properly set it up. Yes 33mm. I would say it better going with new parts. And $400 is alot to pay for a simple axle. The heavy duty axles would be around $400.

 

So just an update. I found the parts online form a reputable shop for 250. I also found a used gear case with spider gears ring gear and bearings for 200 shipped using a parts locater. I almost went this route but I decided to do a little internet search on the company that said they had the used pupkin (thoroughbredautoparts.com). I am Soooo glad I checked first. The first 2 results from google was ripoff reports about them. They are known for not shipping the parts, not refunding your money and not giving you the tracking numbers.
So needless to say I am getting the entire axle with a 90 day guarantee form my local junkyard for the 400 bucks i did not want to pay. I guess its sometimes better to pay a little more to deal with someone that will not rip you off and will guarantee that the diff is in proper working condition.
I am hoping to do the install next weekend and them I am gonna ask you some advice about them T bar keys.